Archives for July 2014

We spent one of our afternoons here at Museo Evita, or for you English speakers, Evita Museum, dedicated to the first lady of Argentina, Eva Perón.

As for the familiar song to many, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”, is a song in the musical “Evita”, which is the story of her life that we learned about at the museum.

She had grown up On Eva’s way in her pursuit to becoming an actress, she met Juan Perón, her soon husband and president of Argentina at a benefit and it was happily ever after…. in that sense. She became the voice of the people.

Among other things, Evita was actively involved in many charities, labor rights and the Women’s Political Party.

While she had success as an actress, she definitely filled the role as First Lady with her campaigns and stylish wardrobe.

Evita’s health faded fairly quickly from cancer, and while memorial plans were being put into place, her body was at her former office. Then when her husband was overthrown, the body disappear for roughly 15 years before it was found in Milan and then was brought back and set in her final resting place in La Recoleta Cemetery.

This was the demonstration of the tango dance given by our instructors for the evening. They were also 2 of the dancers and entertainers at Sabor a Tango. This lesson was given before the dining portion of the evening, and I’ll divulge in that in the next post.

It was a lot of fun. While the ladies seriously outnumbered the (5) guys, they were good sports in switching partners during the lesson, so everyone got a chance to learn and dance.

Check it out, they’re pros, they sorta know what they’re doing! Haha.

Okay, so while this doesn’t put us on the Dancing with the Stars track, it was really cool to say that we learned some tango steps in Argentina AND we got certificates that truly made it official – oooh yeah!

We spent half a day (late morning through the afternoon) in the town of Capilla del Senor, which is north of Buenos Aires, at the Don Silvano Ranch. We headed out to the ranch to check out the country side. Remember that we were in Argentina in June, so the weather was crisp. There wasn’t much to see on the drive out, mostly pastures and greenery. Upon arriving, we had wine, pop (or soda – depending on what on you call it), and empanadas waiting for us. Nothing like wine to wake you up in the morning =)

The ranch was complete with farm cats and dogs, among other animals including turkeys, peacocks and flamingos (on this ranch!? Yes).

We got to see all those animals on our way to the barn to ride horses (woo hoo!). We just rode around the property, which was probably a 15-20 minute ride. I have never ridden a horse before (aside from the ponies at carnivals and festivals when I was a little kid). It was a strange sensation, but eventually got comfortable the longer I was riding the horse.

After wandering around the ranch, it was time for lunch. There were lots of food being served – a lot of meat: sausage, pork, beef. The thing was there was more meat than anything else. Not much side dishes, and then they kept bringing out wine. It certainly was a fiesta! Ole!

While food was being served, there was entertainment: singing and dancing.

Audience participation was voluntary, but with all the wine flowing, EVERYONE was having a good time. And there was even an impromptu tango lesson, which Dad and I jumped in on. That was fun.

After the fiesta, we were given an exhibition/demonstration of games. They have small rings hanging from a pole and each guy is holding something similar to a pencil and has to be the first one to get to it and hook it through the ring. That was entertaining.

As we left the ranch, I needed to take a photo of this sign, which translates to: You need 2 years to learn to talk and 70 to learn to shut up.

Apply advice as needed if and when you see it. ^_^ Happy travels friends!

This town Tigre, is named after the tiger and jaguar hunting people used to do in this area.

Think of this place now as a weekend getaway area for the locals. It reminds me of the boardwalk, pier, or a lake getaway.

On the tour, we saw colonial buildings and stilt homes. The first building we saw was the Club de Regatas La Marina. Similar to Boca Juniors, there are other sports offered (other than rowing and boating) at this club, like swimming and volleyball, but is known for its Rowing Club.

Here is the beautiful Tigre Art Museum. I think this used to be the location of the Rowing Club, before it moved to its present location (pictured above).

There was a bit of movement on the water at the beginning of the tour – rowboats and then boats moving shipments. It was cool to see a boat roaming around that just carried supplies, and then lastly a service station where boats can pull up to and get their items that way.

Parque LYFE (Lyfe Park) is like a forest preserve, a recreational wooded areas with playgrounds, campgrounds, eating grounds (yeah I think that last category is a word I made up), but a place for people to hang out and spend the afternoon.

The scene quieted down when we cruised by some homes.

This home in particular, Museo Casa Domingo Sarmiento, is preserved by the glass structure. In present day, it is a museum and library still filled with its original furniture. It is named after the past Argentine president who used to live there. You are able to visit this building, however, we just passed by and viewed it on the outside.